Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was nice and easy, not too much stress, boys were happy with what they got. Went to a few parties, ate way too many goodies, stayed close to home, didn't do the last minute shuffle this year, a good change. Enjoyed church Christmas Eve had some friends over for a drink and then lounged around on Christmas Day.

Check out Chris rocking in his boxers!

Bah Humbug

I guess if I want this blog to be an accurate diary of my life, all entries can't be cheery. I don't know if it's the gloomy weather or all the bad news on TV, (I think I will take a break from news this weekend). I am in a pre Christmas funk, mainly beacause Jim and I who both normally get bonuses at the end of the year, didn't. I know, I know we should plan all year for the holiday spending, but it never happens that way. And I know, we should be thankful we have jobs, but we both worked "over and above" this year and it is just plain disappointing! So I guess my shopping is coming to a screeching halt, we have warned the boys "don't expect much" and they are understanding, although Chris keeps looking nervously under the tree. Things could definitely be worse, but this is my blog. It is interesting how the extra money is never spent on me, it always goes to others gifts, but it bothers me, I guess it is true Christmas is about giving and when you can't give freely, it is just not as fun!

Trying to Keep the "Reason for the Season"

Bryan and I had an opportunity through our church to help with some holiday good deeds. It was great to get out and see what wonderful things are available for people in need right here in Woodstock. We delivered foodbaskets to the Hope Center it is an awesome place for women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy, a monumental time in a person's life for sure. We had a tour of the facility, and met the director Cindy O'Leary, she is so full of joy! she is doing such wonderful work, she left her lucrative corporate job to do "God's work" and seems so happy. Maybe in the future I will become a mentor for new mothers since, I think I developed some mommy skills raising my 2 boys.

Today we are going to deliver our Adopt a Senior gifts and food, I am doing this in honor of Jim's Mom and my grandmothers, I can't stand the thought of lonely elderly people at Christmas! I really don't feel like it is enough, but we got them what they requested.

After this we will get back to the partying and shopping!

Over the river and through the woods...

Actually it was many rivers and lots of woods, we drove 14 hrs to NY to spend the holidays with my family. With gas so cheap we decided to go for it, we saw it for $1.47 in one spot in Ohio!

It was really nice to see everyone, I hadn't been home for Thanksgiving in 15 years. I got to meet some of my 1st cousins once removed (we figured that out after much debate) for the first time, my cousin's sons. We found out my cousin Ted has to go back to Afghanistan for a year, tough with 2 small kids!

We had a few memorable moments, like when the oven became locked on the clean cycle just as we were getting ready to roast the turkeys (Jim's fault-I knew it would time lock!) So we ran the turkey over to the neighbors, thank God she had room in her oven! 

We hit all the highlights: Schallers Bill Grays and Abbotts, still just as yummy as ever. We are a low budget bunch although dinner for 6 a Bill Grays runs about $72 dollars! 

It was a tough 16 hour drive home, between the weather and the traffic. I actually really enjoyed the farmland scenery in Ohio and Kentucky and was impressed with Cincinnati, it is a cool looking city. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Mom's Taxi Gets a Break

Well unfortunately for Bryan his football season that began with training in April ended abruptly Friday night when they lost in the first round of play-offs. Everyone was stunned, it was a really good season the team was 9-2, and I am sure he made lifelong friends. I can tell they are really making a man out of him, because this morning despite temps in the 30s and 40 mph winds he got up early and walked the 1/2 mile to the bus stop, not waking me for a ride. His workouts continue even though the season is over. It is so nice not to run him around everywhere, but I must admit, we have our best talks when we have uninterrupted time in the car, also when I am transporting his friends which happened often, I would get to catch up on the latest things going on in the mysterious life of 15 year olds.








So our nights are a lot less hectic now until March when baseball starts up again.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

We were all snuggled in our camper on Lake Allatoona Friday night. It was very foggy and still, when we were awoken by loud crash, when a 40 foot tall tree decided it was the perfect time to drop one of its branches. It came right through the window sending shards of glass everywhere in the camper. Luckily no one was sleeping under the window they would have been injured for sure. We spent the next hour carefully looking for glass pieces, which when we were sure we found them all, another one would appear. Jim and I were shaken up from the sudden jolt, the boys on the other hand, didn't hear a thing! Jim taped up the window and reinforced it with cardboard since it was going to be in the 30s by morning.

We managed to have a nice family weekend after that watching the new Indiana Jones movie, Get Smart with Steve Karel and a movie called 21, we liked them all. We also built a campfire, played Monopoly and Chris and I (a budding artist maybe?) drew pictures and took crazy pictures. Here are shots I took of the lake and fall foliage:

Rochesterians Everywhere

It is amazing how often Jim and I meet somebody from Rochester or Upstate NY. Last night we started Bryan with a Geometry tutor ($50 an hour!) to try and pull him out of a tailspin in that class and they saw my Adirondacks sweatshirt. Apparently they spend summers in Alexandria Bay, they honeymooned in the Adirondacks, her mother had been in Old Forge last year, their niece goes to Nazareth College and a nephew is at Brockport and on and on.

Then we find out a neighbor 3 doors down grew up in Fairport,NY. One of our franhise owners went to the U of R. Jim is working on a house of a lady from Rochester. And one of my coworkers here is from Buffalo with relatives in Rochester!

The same thing happened to us when we lived in Florida, I guess we always find each other because of the accent!

Autumn in Georgia

After living in south Florida for many years, one of the things we were most looking forward to when we moved "up north to the deep south" was getting autumn back. We really enjoy it, and are going on a chilly camping trip this weekend, looking forward to keeping warm by the campfire.

Recently, we had my nieces join us at the campground and they really enjoyed playing in the leaves... remember when this was the best thing?

Here is a great shot I took at the Chestatee River near Dahlonega:

My Brother's brush with the Pres

My brother and sister in law's band Double Funk Crunch http://www.doublefunkcrunch.com/ played for a rally when Obama was trying to get the nomination. Ever since he met him he was an over the top supporter. He had been very impressed with his charisma. Obama stopped to pose for a picture with the band:

What a keepsake this picture is now!

Way to go Bro!

Whatever Gets You Through the Day

I for one, don't know what I ever did before streaming became available. We have an awesome radio station here in ATL called Dave FM http://www.929dave.fm/ they play all sorts of new music I ordinarily wouldn't hear any other way. It really keeps my creativity flowing when I am faced with a new layout to do.

My office mates and I are frequently in stitches over our favorite DJ Mara Davis who coincidently got her start in Rochester. She has a program called Radio Free Lunch with a theme each day and we often send her requests. Being loyal listeners, she mentions us now and then and last year she even invited us down to the station to hang out during her show. We had a blast! If you are ever looking for something new to stream I highly recommend it!

Here is a pic from our studio visit:

Sushi

I have finally decided to give Sushi a try, ( it took until I was 20 years old to try Chinese food--believe it or not!) my girlfriends all seem to enjoy it, so recently at one of my perks of the job ( a restaurant review) we were treated to the best the chef had to offer, our reviews usually pack the restaurant for the next month. I get picture duty and the editor always seems to hit the mark with describing the essence of the establishment.

The Miso soup gave me the willys but my favorite dish was the Tuna Tartar, it was amazing, indescribable really! So now if I didn't have enough other food to crave now I keep thinking about my next foray into the sushi world. The chefs are truly artists!

Here is the shot I took:

Voting

I'm glad to say voting was no problem at all, after the news promising hours of waiting, Jim went to check it out this morning and called to tell me there was no line at all! So I ran over in did my patriotic duty in less than 10 minutes!

One down one to go

Chris's baseball season ended yesterday with a bang, he got a great hit to the fence, his first of the season (his hitting slump was tough on all of us). So I am happy to say Baseball is over for a few months, it makes the pace of our lives slow down a bit. Bryan still has a few more football games. Then mom's taxi service will have some time off!

It is nice to be "forced" to be outside and unplugged, watching the games.

Here is the slugger in action:

Halloween Update

The evening went off as planned, Chris finished up his costume and ran off with his buddies. I hung out in front of the fireplace the neighbors put out in their driveway , handing out candy with Jim. Schatzie dressed up as a ladybug.  Then I ran off to the football game and got my pictures for the magazine and watched Bryan's team make school history getting their 8th win. Here is the Hippie:

Halloween 2008

Halloween is complicated this year, Chris is going as a hippie and only has partof his costume we will ad lib the rest, no doubt while his friends are knocking at the door. Luckily he has a bunch of buddies to go with. We have never had to think too hard about costumesin other years because inevitably he was whatever Bryan had been 6 years before and he was none the wiser, being too young to remember. It has worked out fine!

Besides getting the costume together, Bryan has a Varsity football Homecoming game tonight that I need to take pictures at, for the magazine. I guess Jim and Schatzie will answer the door.

I will post a picture of the costume tomorrow. Here is last years bounty:

42 Years!

Well here I am at 42. A friend asked me if I was happy-- really and I couldn't think of any complaints besides wanting more hours in the day and more money in the bank. A day late and a dollar short pertains to me all too aften!

My birthday was nice I am still feeling happy 2 days later, it could be the beautiful fall weather or the fact that I have eaten more cake in the last 2 days than I have had in a full year I need to get back on my fitness track after a month long break. The boys sports are almost over, so i can get back to focusing on me a little more, so hard to do.

Well I am going to keep it up 2 blogs in a row!

NYC Adventure Part 2

Whenever I am in NYC I am reinvigorated when I see the preservation of our American heritage and the cherishing of culture, we languished in the Met for hours at one point we were staring so long at a painting the guard told us to backup! The Met just elevates the soul, the architecture of the building itself lifts you up and then you wander through centuries of artwork, carefully preserved and shared with the masses, I was surprised on the day we went, the thousands of people lining up to see in animate objects. Everybody assumes nowadays we have to be plugged in to enjoy things, this is truly the opposite. The NY Public Library was also amazing, with a great exhibit on Yaddo www.yaddo.org an artist's colony that has been in existence for a century and I had never heard of it.

Luckily my travel partner was equally as interested in these things.

Here we are at the Met and NY Public Library:

My Fabulous NYC Adventure!

This is my first posting, I was inspired and prompted by my dear friend Wendy to start a blog she finds it a good way to keep her writing skills fresh. i like the idea of a running diary that you can look back on and reflect. Life sure is busy and if you don't stop and record it sometimes it can fade away!

Well here are some photo highlights from my trip:

First stop was the rink at Rockafeller Plaza, not being a gifted skater we passed on taking a spin around the rink thanks to a nice Aussie tourist who took our picture.